He watched as she quietly slipped away after she gave a quiet explanation to Mercedes and Kurt. He'd seen the two nodding their heads at her in sympathy before hugging her and letting her go. He wanted so badly to go after her.

"Dude, go after her," Puck hissed.

Wait, Puck? Since when were they friends again?

The bald teenager rolled his eyes, as if reading his thoughts. "You know you missed me. Go after Berry, you idiot. Or I'll make you."

Finn raised his eyebrows at him, silently challenging him to 'make' him to do anything.

Puck smirked. Without warning, the about-to-be-teenage-father took a bottle of ketchup and splashed the red liquid all over the taller boy's white shirt. Finn bolted from his seat, and given his long legs, knocked the table over, spilling the table's contents all onto Puck, Quinn and Santana. The taller teenager smirked back at his now-scowling friend.

"I'm gonna leave, Mr. Schue. I need to get out of these," he grabbed a piece of his shirt. The Spanish teacher nodded and Finn was about to leave when Kurt held him back.

"Hurt Rachel more than you and Jesse already have, Finn, and I will murder you in your sleep," the male soprano's voice was actually a little frightening. Finn gulped as Mercedes, Tina and Artie glared at him from behind Kurt. He nodded and quickly left as fast as his long legs could carry him.

The whole cast of New Directions had never felt so alive after their performance to Vocal Adrenaline earlier that day. Each and every one of them had seen the utter looks of fear and depression on their rival's faces and now that they'd finally at least won one battle they would always be proud of, New Directions had never been happier, stronger and more confident. Well, almost all of New Directions.

He'd always admired how strong Rachel was as a person. She knew that she was not one to be liked by everyone and she knew that she was probably one of the most hated girls in McKinley High. She got slushied almost every day but never once had Finn seen her crumble. Never once had Finn seen all of those immature acts get to her. Never once had Finn known Rachel to let her emotions go free if it was a sign of weakness, even after that time he was pretending to like her. Well, she had slapped him, but she became friends with him again, didn't she? She was Rachel Berry and she let no woman, man or creature stop her from being who she was.

Until Jesse St. Jerkface went and broke her precious heart.

No matter how many times she smiled during rehearsal or laughed with the other members of glee, Finn could always see that it was forced. Her big brown eyes still twinkled when she sang but it wasn't as bright as it used to be. And the thing that most gave her unhappiness away were the missing gold stars after writing her name. Finn had missed seeing them.

Wait, he missed gold stars?

Shaking the thoughts out of his head for a while, he managed to catch her just as she was about to step into her car.

"Rachel!"

The young brunette turned back to look at him and Finn immediately came to a halt. Feeling an ache in his heart he never knew he could feel, the tall teenager brought his hand to Rachel's face and shakily wiped away the tears from her eyes before wrapping his arms around her petite body. Finn felt tears in his own eyes as Rachel melted against him.

He, Finn Hudson, was hugging Rachel Berry in the middle of a parking lot while she cried her eyes out. What startled him was that even though he had been waiting to be a source of comfort to Rachel since he knew Jesse St. Jerkface would break her precious little heart, he never thought his own heart would break too.

"I'm an idiot," she mumbled, not moving from the position she was in.

Finn pulled her away from him gently, all the while ignoring her protests, and looked her in the eye. "No, you're not."

Rachel snorted. "I let myself think I was special enough for a senior in Vocal Adrenaline."

"You're too special for a jerk, Rach."

"You're just saying that."

Crap. The tears were gathering in her eyes again. Thinking fast on his feet, Finn gently took her hands into his.

"Rachel, you're the most talented girl I've ever met. You're smart and while you can be annoying at times, you're a good friend. Jesse doesn't deserve you. Hell, I don't deserve you but I care about you more than he ever did," he said fiercely.

And for the first time in a long while, Finn's heart soared as the love of his life gave him her first genuine smile in days. He smiled back until…

Wait, LOVE OF HIS LIFE?

A/N: Thoughts please? I might write a companion piece to this, not sure yet... Review!